Harry Brown
Harry Brown: a suitable ordinary name, for an ordinary man, living in a housing estate, in London's south. Leading up to, and following the death of his wife, Harry keeps mostly to himself, amid the chaos and juvenile crime of the housing estate in which he live.
Drug-addled, disenfranchised youth loiter around the grounds, and have virtually taken over an underpass: spraying graffiti all over the walls and ensuring their menacing presence around the area intimidates the locals.
When a companion of his is attacked by the local hoodlums, Harry Brown calls upon his marine training, to exact revenge. Hot on his heels is a police detective, who has volunteered to work in this volatile area. Her experiences in the course of this film will surely have her questioning the overly-simplistic, black-and-white nature of the law.
Thankfully, director Daniel Barber has kept the pace fairly gentle throughout, so that the more dramatic segments really pack a punch. We get a sense of Harry Brown as more than a reactive citizen: by watching him quietly completing his day-to-day tasks, and becoming increasingly upset by the troubles in his neighbourhood, we gradually get to know him, and care about his fate.
Barber's realism is also to be commended. In avenging the harm done to his friend, Harry Brown will insinuate himself into situations where we can clearly see he is surprised and shocked, and at times not utterly certain of what to do.
This is one of Michael Caine's best performances, in terms of the sheer emotional range he covers. Harry Brown is a man often silent in tonight, and it's a credit to Caine that his thoughts are so accessible, even though his facial expressions at times, seem impassive.
Since the 1960's, UK cinema has consistently explored the socioeconomic problems endemic in the urban clusters of multi-story housing estates that were built after the second world war. There is something compelling about these stories. Daniel Barber's Harry Brown can now sit confidently among them.